Matlock Bioethics Practice Exam

Moral objectivism holds that there are moral norms with objective truth values that apply to everyone, regardless of culture or individual beliefs. This means some actions are right or wrong for all people at all times, independent of what anyone thinks. For example, harming innocent people is wrong no matter what a culture or person believes. This contrasts with cultural relativism, which pauses the universality of norms and says morality depends on cultural norms. Utilitarianism focuses on right actions as those that maximize overall happiness, providing a standard for judging actions rather than asserting universal moral truths about all norms. Deontology centers on universal duties and rules, but the phrase about norms that are true for everyone is most directly captured by the objectivist view.